Yemen - Feb 13, 2012 - 12:51

Southern separatists in Yemen have set fire to a tent camp housing anti-government protesters in the port city of Aden, witnesses said on Sunday, in opposition to an election this month to replace outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Southern separatists joined protesters calling for Saleh to leave last year, but the two sides have since grown apart.

The separatists want to revive a southern socialist state that was united with the north in 1990. They fear the February 21 election will not serve their goal.

Anti-Saleh demonstrators broadly back the vote as a step towards ending his 33-year rule.